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1 Background and Overview
Pages 6-14

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From page 6...
... Banknotes were introduced originally in China, and later in Europe. Whereas gold and silver coins held intrinsic value, these paper notes represented value held elsewhere.1 The transformation from paper currency to electronic forms of money is clearly the latest chapter in the saga of the evolution of money in terms of both monetary value and number of transactions.
From page 7...
... The upper bound is estimated to be about $170 million, or about 2.8 in 10,000 notes."3 For hundreds of years, counterfeiting required considerable artistic and technical skill, as well as substantial resources. Until recently, the primary counterfeiting threat arose from organized professional criminals and, in a few instances, from hostile states.
From page 8...
... Some general conclusions regarding the changing threat from three of the resulting reports are as follows: · The potential threat to the United States currency from modern reprographic technology is great, due primarily to the expected increase in availability of high-quality color copier and scanner printer combinations during the next five years.4 · A broadening of the counterfeiting base made possible by the availability of commercial reprographic equipment can pose an intractable enforcement problem and cause serious erosion of confidence in United States currency.5 · Rapid developments in reprographic technology could give rise to an unacceptable level of counterfeiting activity by making high-quality reprographic systems widely available.6 · The increased availability of advanced color copiers and systems composed of a computer scanner and printer makes widespread counterfeiting of U.S. banknotes a real and substantial threat.
From page 9...
... In addition, their features must allow authentication, indicate their denomination, and deter their counterfeiting. Advances in reprographic technologies have driven the addition of specific counterfeit-deterrent features, which have been adopted without compromising current banknote recognition and respect.10 In the last decades of the 20th century, digital reprography -- especially color copiers, desktop computers, and color printers -- emerged as a serious counterfeiting threat.
From page 10...
... The effectiveness of a banknote feature depends on the specific nature of a note's use. Examples of different types of use include the following: two individuals wishing to complete a sale; a variety of machines designed to accept, disperse, or count banknotes; visually impaired individuals engaged in a transaction involving currency with machines or people; a foreign government official contemplating the circulation of U.S.
From page 11...
... The BEP conducted a focus group study in 2001 and 2002 to determine how specific cash-handling audiences detect counterfeits in Series 1996 banknotes.15 In the course of these focus group studies, the bureau interviewed a total of 1,423 people in six categories: consumers, bank tellers, cashiers, gaming industry employees, law enforcement officials, and teachers. It was found that 29 percent of the cash handlers interviewed had identified counterfeit notes; the major tip-off was that the note "looked suspicious," followed closely by the fact that it "felt suspicious." In order, the features that caused interviewees to look closer were these: color, waxy feel, paper feel, paper thickness, smudged ink, portrait quality, and security strip.
From page 12...
... banknotes most used in current machine readers are the optical spectrum and image, magnetic inks, ultraviolet fluorescence, ultraviolet spectrum, and infrared ink pattern. Low-end readers may sense only a single feature, usually the infrared ink pattern; high-end readers may use 10 or more measurements to authenticate each note.
From page 13...
... Several features can be useful for reading in this short time, including the magnetic ink signal, the pattern in infrared ink, and the ultraviolet spectrum and fluorescence of the paper. High color contrast, as in previous, all-intaglio note series, provides a strong optical signal; however, artistically smooth shadings and the addition of multiple colors and features cause the optical contrast to decrease.
From page 14...
... The use of machine readers for currency is increasing worldwide; the security features used by machine readers differ from those used by human cash handlers. Because the machine-readable features of currency are sometimes changed as currency design changes, the design of these machines must be changed with each currency design change, which may provide a window of opportunity for astute counterfeiters.


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